Diagnostic apparatus, also called data acquisition or data collection apparatus, is commonly used to test and troubleshoot various types of electronic equipment. The diagnostic apparatus monitors the values of electrical data generated by the electronic equipment under test (“unit under test” or “UUT”). This data generally represents various sensor measurements and/or operating conditions of the UUT, all of which are collectively referred to as “diagnostic attributes,” “collectible attributes,” or simply “attributes” of the UUT. Maintenance personnel analyze the attribute data to troubleshoot or optimize the performance of the UUT.
Maintenance personnel typically are assigned to test and troubleshoot a variety of types of such electronic equipment. Different types and models of UUT equipment generally impose different interface requirements for connection to a diagnostic apparatus, because they differ from each other regarding the number and kind of data communications interfaces, the attributes they output at the data interfaces, and the ID's (physical signal line, physical address, or logical address) required for a diagnostic apparatus to retrieve the values of selected attributes from the UUT. In fact, different interface requirements may even exist among different production versions of the same model of equipment.
Some conventional diagnostic apparatuses are adapted to interface with only a narrow range of UUT equipment models. Other conventional diagnostic apparatuses are programmable to enable them to interface with a broader range of UUT equipment, but such programming must be manually entered by the maintenance personnel each time the apparatus is intended to be connected to a different model of UUT.
A need exists for a diagnostic apparatus capable of interfacing with a broad range of UUT equipment models without requiring manual reprogramming by maintenance personnel.